The blessing of God comes not as power and wealth that the blessed one must deliver to passive others. Rather, it creates relationships of giving as it creates full life. That can only happen when the blessed ones are also vulnerable ones. —Kelly S. Johnson Read more

God is serving up some experiential learning this week. I have wrestled with how to put this reflection together, re-writing the start of it ad nauseam. I even woke up in the middle of a few nights thinking on it. #iseeyougod

If you’ll limp along with me and Jacob, I’d like to offer some disjointed observations and reflections. I’ll follow the lead of the Psalmist and Matthew’s crowd of 5000+, trusting that God will confront us with blessing in this exercise, even if – like Paul – I struggle to understand exactly how that’s going to work. Read more

The Christian life is, or ought to be, an abundant life ever-rich in the centripetal blessings of God to God’s people and the centrifugal blessings of God’s people to God’s world. This pattern reaches back to the earliest chapters of Genesis as Abram is blessed to be the father of a nation which will in turn be a blessing unto the world. The pattern is then displayed throughout the rest of the Scriptures, as God’s people are blessed to be a blessing. The emphasis changes from time to time, as God’s people struggle to find their way: at times, blessing is poured out upon them, while at others, God’s people serve as a blessing, or are encouraged to fulfill their mission in blessing the nations around them. Read more